Keywords
Pyrrhonism
Skepticism
Hellenistic Philosophy
Early Modern Philosophy
How to Cite
Abstract
This paper explores the intricate relationship between ancient Greek skepticism and David Hume's account of Pyrrhonism. Ancient Greek skepticism, specifically Pyrrhonism, emerged as a prominent philosophical school in the Hellenistic period and had a profound influence on subsequent Western philosophical thought. David Hume, as an Enlightenment philosopher, engaged with Pyrrhonian skepticism and developed his own unique perspective on skepticism. This paper begins by providing an overview of ancient Greek skepticism, tracing its roots back to its founder Pyrrho of Elis. It explores the core tenets of Pyrrhonism, such as a search for tranquility through suspension of judgment and belief (epochê) and argumentative opposition. The distinctive features of Pyrrhonian skepticism are analyzed in light of its historical and philosophical context. In conclusion, this paper aims to shed light on the intricate connection between ancient Greek skepticism, particularly Pyrrhonism, and David Hume's account of skepticism. It aims to highlight the profound influence of Pyrrhonian skepticism on Hume's philosophical thought, illuminating the enduring relevance and impact of these skeptical traditions on the history of Western philosophy.
References
Ainslie, D.C. (2003). Hume’s Scepticism and Ancient Scepticisms. In Hellenistic and Early Modern Philosophy (Ed. Miller, J. and Inwood, B.), Cambridge University Press.
Dimech, D.K. (2021). Hume is the Enemy of Pyrrho. Philosophy, 96(4), 651-674.
Fieser, J. (1989). Hume's Pyrrhonism: A developmental interpretation. Hume Studies, 15(1), 93-119.
Fine, G. (2000). Descartes and ancient skepticism: Reheated cabbage?. The Philosophical Review, 109(2), 195-234.
Fogelin, R.J. (2008). Hume’s skepticism. In The Cambridge Companion to Hume (Ed. Norton, D.F. and Taylor, J.). Cambridge University Press.
Fosl, P.S. (2011). Skepticism and the possibility of nature. In Pyrrhonism in Ancient,Modern, and Contemporary Philosophy (Ed. Machuca, D.E.), Springer.
Fosl, P.S. (1998). The bibliographic bases of Hume's understanding of Sextus Empiricus and Pyrrhonism. Journal of the History of Philosophy, 36(2), 261-278.
Frede, M. (1987). Essays in Ancient Philosophy. University of Minnesota Press.
Garrett, D. (2020). Pyrrhonian skepticism and Humean skepticism: Belief, evidence, and causal power. In Epistemology After Sextus Empiricus (Ed.Vogt, K.M. and Vlasits, J.), Oxford University Press
Garrett, D. (2004). A small tincture of Pyrrhonism: Skepticism and naturalism in Hume’s science of man. In Pyrrhonian Skepticism (Ed. Sinnott-Armstrong, W.), Oxford University Press
Hankinson, R.J. (1933). The origins of Pyrrhonism. In Central Works of Philosophy v1: Ancient and Medieval (Ed. Shand, J.), Routledge
Hume, D. (1975) Enquiries Concerning Human Understanding and Concerning the Principles of Morals, 3rd edn. Ed. L.A. Selby-Bigge and P.H. Nidditch, Oxford: Oxford University Press. (referred to as EHU in the bodytext)
Hume, D. (1978) A Treatise of Human Nature, 2nd edn. ed. L.A. Selby-Bigge and P.H. Nidditch, Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Machuca, D.E. (2018). Skepticism. In Skepticism: From Antiquity to the Present (Ed. Machuca, D.E. and Reed, B). Bloomsbury
Michaud, Y. (1985). How to Become a Moderate Skeptic: Hume's way out of Pyrrhonism. Hume Studies, 11(1), 33-46.
Neto, J.R.M. (1991). Hume and Pascal: Pyrrhonism vs. nature. Hume Studies, 17(1), 41-49.
Neto, J.R.M. (1997). Academic skepticism in early modern philosophy. Journal of the History of Ideas, 58(2), 199-220.
Neto, J.R.M. (2014). Academic Skepticism in Seventeenth-Century French Philosophy: the Charronian Legacy 1601-1662. Springer.
Noonan, H.W. (2014). Hume. Simon and Schuster.
Norton, D.F., & Taylor, J. (Eds.). (2008). The Cambridge Companion to Hume. Cambridge University Press.
Parusniková, Z. (2016). David Hume, Sceptic. Springer International Publishing.
Popkin, R.H. (1951). David Hume: his Pyrrhonism and his critique of Pyrrhonism. The Philosophical Quarterly (1950-), 1(5), 385-407.
Popkin, R.H. (1952). David Hume and the Pyrrhonian controversy. The Review of Metaphysics, 6(1), 65-81.
Sachdev, R. (2019). The Role of Skepticism in Early Modern Philosophy: A Critique of Popkin's" Sceptical Crisis" and a Study of Descartes and Hume.
Sinnott-Armstrong, W. (2004). Pyrrhonian Skepticism. Oxford University Press.
Stanley, P. (1935). The Scepticisms of David Hume. The Journal of Philosophy, 32(16), 421-431.
Vogt, K. (2018). Ancient Skepticism. In The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (Ed. Zalta, E.N.), https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/ fall2018/entries/skepticism-ancient, Access Date: April 25, 2021
Williams, M. (2017). Skepticism. In The Blackwell Guide to Epistemology (Ed. Greco, J, and Sosa, E.), Blackwell Publishing Ltd.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
Copyright (c) 2026 Synesis (ISSN 1984-6754)